Night Crawler
08-06-2008, 11:18 PM
Since I've found a place to freely brag (and bitch) about my four furry kids who are my pride and joy, I thought I would fully introduce them. Many of you have already heard about my dog, and bits about the cats, but unless someone complains, you are likely going to hear about them a lot more, so I thought proper introductions were in order. However, my as I think they are adorable and cannot be too much discussed, feel free to tell me off as I do realize some might not be so interested............
I'll go from the eldest down. Sorry, but I can't do pictures as we do not have a digital camera and I haven't gotten around to scanning of my old fashion pics yet.
Sheera: She is a 12lb, black and white siamese mix. Tall, but thin with the typical sagging tummy of many siamese cats. She is very dainty by nature and prances more than walks, spends hours grooming and attacks dirty toenails (hers) like they are barbarian hordes. Sometimes looks like she's going to rip one out during her private little wars to keep them sparkling. She has a white tummy, white "socks" on her back feet, two white "shoes" on the front and half a white moustache.
Sheera is very much a grand dame. Also very neurotic. Loves to sit in your lap, but don't pick her up! Must be her choice. She's very agile, very active and shows no real signs of her age. In some ways she's much more of a "cat" than my other two. For instance, when nibbling at her kibble, and being a lady she never has more than a few bites at time, Sheera carefully "breaks the neck" of each piece before chewing. Kind of throws her head back and goes through the same motions with each piece as she would if it were prey and needing killing.
Larry (sick of calling him hubby on posts, Larry his actual name), and I have speculated on what each animal would be like if they were human children. Sheera, we have decided, would be the prissy cheerleader type we all hated in high-school. Perfect hair, always fixing her make-up and insisting on only designer togs. Always prancing by the boys, flirting and putting down "ugly" girls. I know it doesn't sound very nice, but what's adorable in animals is usually contemptible in humans.
Riker: Is a persian mix, grey tabby colouring and patterns, with huge round eyes, is 13 years old, and 14lbs of cat. Might sound fat, but he isn't. Just a large cat. He is starting to show his age a bit in his mannerisms - crankier than he used to be.
Riker is lazy and a total slob by nature, who has never been big on personal hygiene. He and Sheera were not always indoor-only cats. We changed that about ten years ago after moving back to the city from a rather isolated country road where we rented a house on a half acre with tons of trees and bush that they played in. (They were no longer car-smart. Besides, they are no longer at risk from other humans or disease inside the house.) Anyway, when he did go outside, he loved to lie in the slimiest possible places and being a persian, everything stuck to him. Slugs seemed pretty numerous around that place and would somehow get stuck to his armpits, of all places. Unlike most cats in my experience, he would merely note them, sort of shrug and carry on. We would get the dubious pleasure of finding them when picking him up. (We learned to make the cat door exit-only and perform searches before allowing him back in!) Riker is still like that when anything becomes stuck to his fur and totally relies on us to keep him looking pretty. Which would be fine if he didn't get nasty about brushing and grooming past the tummy. In terms of activity, once he got past a wild kittenhood, Riker decided that if it involved effort, it probably wasn't worth it. He's a lousy jumper, usually misses and would rather sleep than place, unless chasing a laser beam spot, or joining his brother to pick on Sheera.
Riker as a human would be the geeky, overweight kid with greasy hair, stuffing chips in his mouth while playing video games. (Though in reality, he is gorgeous - looks just like a miniature grey lion, complete with mane.)
Keiko: She's dog that recently had the tumour on her rump removed. (By the way, still no test results back from lab.) Keiko is your typical lab - happy, bouncy, hyper, smart yet dense, would make friends with a lamp-post if possible, loves attention and can be a bit wilful when she puts her mind to it. I was still able to work when she was a puppy and because there was no place to safely leave a teething puppy unattended in our place, my parents did doggy-daycare for us. Between that and my being off work for five years, she is far too used to having constant human companionship. Still, she's my buddy and is positive she is a lap dog. Keiko is by a wimp by nature, and a drama queen. And a bed thief!
Keiko as a human child would be in special-ed, on Ritalin, and possibly have to wear a helmet.
Aries: He is my youngest at 6. Also a black and white siamese mix with white toes and tummy, he tips the scales at 16lbs! They are all on low-cal food and have been for years, but that doesn't seem to help him any. Aries is extremely active and is always ripping around the house and up to, or into, something. He has this toy that is a clear plastic wand with a 3 foot long, multi-coloured piece of felt string attached to it with rubber. It's sold at our local pet store and he gets a new one about every six months when the old one gets raggedy. He loves this thing and will pack it around for hours, all the while telling us about it! Another favourite game is to hold the want where the felt is joined by rubber, sticking straight out of his mouth and charge around. Stabbing it into the sides of the other cats when they sleep, or the dog, or bash it on the walls repeatedly to make the maximum amount of noise.
Aries is the chatty one in the family and is a total brat! He torments Sheera at every opportunity, gets into anything and everything, "supervises" us all them time - up close and personal if he can. He worships food that he can't usually be bother to chew, takes up too much time you know. Time better spent stuffing more in your face. Discipline means absolutely nothing to this boy - nothing! Scold him for getting into anything or beating on Sheera and he will just blink at you and carry on. Same for swats. Taking toys away tends to result in him taking his temper out on the others. So we usually just put him in kitty jail (his kennel) when he's driving us or Sheera nuts. Doesn't even bother him, turd that he is. Just put the kennel on the floor, open the door and he happily meanders in and curls up for a nap. It's actually a very maddening attitude! However, Aries is a charmer and knows how to work his cute factor to get his own way. That includes singing up a storm and freely offering head-butting kitty kisses, as well as little licks and rolling around on the floor, showing his tummy and peeking at you from half closed lids to be sure you're watching.
Aries as a human child would be a cross between a ladies man and a Italian crime lord in the making. Alternating using looks, charm, fear and intimidation to get his way and live the good life.
So there is my furry family. Hope you enjoyed my mini-novel.
:waves: :waves: :waves: :waves:
I'll go from the eldest down. Sorry, but I can't do pictures as we do not have a digital camera and I haven't gotten around to scanning of my old fashion pics yet.
Sheera: She is a 12lb, black and white siamese mix. Tall, but thin with the typical sagging tummy of many siamese cats. She is very dainty by nature and prances more than walks, spends hours grooming and attacks dirty toenails (hers) like they are barbarian hordes. Sometimes looks like she's going to rip one out during her private little wars to keep them sparkling. She has a white tummy, white "socks" on her back feet, two white "shoes" on the front and half a white moustache.
Sheera is very much a grand dame. Also very neurotic. Loves to sit in your lap, but don't pick her up! Must be her choice. She's very agile, very active and shows no real signs of her age. In some ways she's much more of a "cat" than my other two. For instance, when nibbling at her kibble, and being a lady she never has more than a few bites at time, Sheera carefully "breaks the neck" of each piece before chewing. Kind of throws her head back and goes through the same motions with each piece as she would if it were prey and needing killing.
Larry (sick of calling him hubby on posts, Larry his actual name), and I have speculated on what each animal would be like if they were human children. Sheera, we have decided, would be the prissy cheerleader type we all hated in high-school. Perfect hair, always fixing her make-up and insisting on only designer togs. Always prancing by the boys, flirting and putting down "ugly" girls. I know it doesn't sound very nice, but what's adorable in animals is usually contemptible in humans.
Riker: Is a persian mix, grey tabby colouring and patterns, with huge round eyes, is 13 years old, and 14lbs of cat. Might sound fat, but he isn't. Just a large cat. He is starting to show his age a bit in his mannerisms - crankier than he used to be.
Riker is lazy and a total slob by nature, who has never been big on personal hygiene. He and Sheera were not always indoor-only cats. We changed that about ten years ago after moving back to the city from a rather isolated country road where we rented a house on a half acre with tons of trees and bush that they played in. (They were no longer car-smart. Besides, they are no longer at risk from other humans or disease inside the house.) Anyway, when he did go outside, he loved to lie in the slimiest possible places and being a persian, everything stuck to him. Slugs seemed pretty numerous around that place and would somehow get stuck to his armpits, of all places. Unlike most cats in my experience, he would merely note them, sort of shrug and carry on. We would get the dubious pleasure of finding them when picking him up. (We learned to make the cat door exit-only and perform searches before allowing him back in!) Riker is still like that when anything becomes stuck to his fur and totally relies on us to keep him looking pretty. Which would be fine if he didn't get nasty about brushing and grooming past the tummy. In terms of activity, once he got past a wild kittenhood, Riker decided that if it involved effort, it probably wasn't worth it. He's a lousy jumper, usually misses and would rather sleep than place, unless chasing a laser beam spot, or joining his brother to pick on Sheera.
Riker as a human would be the geeky, overweight kid with greasy hair, stuffing chips in his mouth while playing video games. (Though in reality, he is gorgeous - looks just like a miniature grey lion, complete with mane.)
Keiko: She's dog that recently had the tumour on her rump removed. (By the way, still no test results back from lab.) Keiko is your typical lab - happy, bouncy, hyper, smart yet dense, would make friends with a lamp-post if possible, loves attention and can be a bit wilful when she puts her mind to it. I was still able to work when she was a puppy and because there was no place to safely leave a teething puppy unattended in our place, my parents did doggy-daycare for us. Between that and my being off work for five years, she is far too used to having constant human companionship. Still, she's my buddy and is positive she is a lap dog. Keiko is by a wimp by nature, and a drama queen. And a bed thief!
Keiko as a human child would be in special-ed, on Ritalin, and possibly have to wear a helmet.
Aries: He is my youngest at 6. Also a black and white siamese mix with white toes and tummy, he tips the scales at 16lbs! They are all on low-cal food and have been for years, but that doesn't seem to help him any. Aries is extremely active and is always ripping around the house and up to, or into, something. He has this toy that is a clear plastic wand with a 3 foot long, multi-coloured piece of felt string attached to it with rubber. It's sold at our local pet store and he gets a new one about every six months when the old one gets raggedy. He loves this thing and will pack it around for hours, all the while telling us about it! Another favourite game is to hold the want where the felt is joined by rubber, sticking straight out of his mouth and charge around. Stabbing it into the sides of the other cats when they sleep, or the dog, or bash it on the walls repeatedly to make the maximum amount of noise.
Aries is the chatty one in the family and is a total brat! He torments Sheera at every opportunity, gets into anything and everything, "supervises" us all them time - up close and personal if he can. He worships food that he can't usually be bother to chew, takes up too much time you know. Time better spent stuffing more in your face. Discipline means absolutely nothing to this boy - nothing! Scold him for getting into anything or beating on Sheera and he will just blink at you and carry on. Same for swats. Taking toys away tends to result in him taking his temper out on the others. So we usually just put him in kitty jail (his kennel) when he's driving us or Sheera nuts. Doesn't even bother him, turd that he is. Just put the kennel on the floor, open the door and he happily meanders in and curls up for a nap. It's actually a very maddening attitude! However, Aries is a charmer and knows how to work his cute factor to get his own way. That includes singing up a storm and freely offering head-butting kitty kisses, as well as little licks and rolling around on the floor, showing his tummy and peeking at you from half closed lids to be sure you're watching.
Aries as a human child would be a cross between a ladies man and a Italian crime lord in the making. Alternating using looks, charm, fear and intimidation to get his way and live the good life.
So there is my furry family. Hope you enjoyed my mini-novel.
:waves: :waves: :waves: :waves: